Today’s passage: Psalm 15

Helpful thoughts:

• Psalm 14 explained the characteristics of the sinner.  Psalm 15 shows the ways of the righteous.
• Only Jesus Christ meets this criteria.  It is only through His sacrifice and imputed righteousness that we have the freedom to pursue these characteristics and have access to God.
• Righteous living is measured in what you do.  Our motives matter and our actions matter.
• “Despising” the vile person is not to be understood as being rude and hateful towards a sinner.  It does mean that a righteous person would be able to rightly discern between those who are living sinfully and those who are living for the Lord.  A vile person would not be regarded as one who fears the Lord.

Questions to consider:

1. What are all of the righteous acts we ought to pursue in this Psalm?
2. Why would it be foolish for a person to say they are a Christian but not have any fruit of righteous activity or change?  What does a person being made righteous do?
3. As we grow to become more like Christ, why is it always right to remain humble in our obedience?  (Why are we able to be counted righteous and how are we able to pursue righteousness?)

Today’s passage: Psalm 14

Helpful thoughts:

• Atheism is a product of foolishness, not intellect.
  • We can win academic, intellectual arguments and still not lead a person to Christ.
  • You don’t have to hold a PhD to share the Gospel.  You just have to love the person enough to tell them the truth.
• There isn’t a single person on the earth (including you and I) who would seek God or understand His ways on their own.
• The “There” in verse 5 is the presence of the Lord.  He is a refuge to the righteous and a terror to the wicked.

Questions to consider:

1. If no one understands or seeks God, how can anyone become righteous? (Romans 3:9-26)
2. Why shouldn’t we be surprised that there are atheists in the world (Along with anyone else who believes in other gods but doesn’t believe in the True God)?
3. Since unbelief is not an intellectual matter, what approach should we take to evangelism? Do we have to win academic arguments with people to win them to Christ or can we simply share the truth of the Gospel with them? (John 3:1-18)

Today’s passage: Psalm 13

Helpful thoughts:

• This Psalm can be divided into three sections:
  • Verses 1-2 – God, where are You and why aren’t You doing anything?
  • Verses 3-4 – God, I know you have a reason, please help me understand.
  • Verses 5-6 – God, I joyfully praise you for your faithfulness and salvation.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you think David moved through these three phases of emotion in or after his hardship quickly or would it take some time?
2. How could these three phases of David’s struggle help you to think through how you are doing during times of suffering?
3. What (Or Who) was the one constant center of thought which helped David to eventually come to a place of praise and joy in God (Potentially even in the midst of his continued troubles)?

Today’s passage: Psalm 12

Helpful thoughts:

• A flatterer uses words of encouragement to manipulate and take advantage of another.  They sound like they are building you up, but in reality they are using their words to use you for their own selfish interest.
• Flattery is dishonesty.  The hardest part of being flattered is when you don’t know the person was using you until it’s too late.
• God is not a flatterer.  His words are true and pure.  His promises are sure.

Questions to consider:

1. Why might we be tempted to flatter people?  What forms of flattery might be considered “acceptable behavior” and commonplace?
2. How does flattery hurt people?  What is the better way to speak to people?  What has to be true of us before we can genuinely speak kindly to others?
3. How can we know that God’s promises are true?  What characteristics or attributes of God remind us that He always speaks truth and will fulfill His promises?

Today’s passage: Psalm 11

Helpful thoughts:

• The grammatical tense of the verb for “take” refuge refers to a completed action with continual results.
• The idea of the first three verses is that of a counselor telling David to flee because of a surprise nighttime attack against God’s people.
• God sees everything in all people.  The righteous are approved and the wicked are punished.

Questions to consider:

1. Is the LORD ever caught off guard?  Is there anything He doesn’t see?  How can these truths give us hope and confidence?
2. Why should this Psalm cause holy fear?  How does the Gospel turn this Psalm from a message of sure damnation into a message of security and excitement?

Today’s passage: Psalm 10

Helpful thoughts:

• In earlier copies of Scripture, Psalm 9 and Psalm 10 were considered one collective work.
• God’s patience and longsuffering are abused by the proud.  They deny God’s existence simply because He does not act the way they think He should.
• God’s patience and longsuffering are confusing to those who forget who He is.  He has not made any mistakes.  He is merciful.  We have benefited more from His mercy than we realize.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the statements in this psalm resonate with the speculative question; How could a good God allow bad things to happen?
2. How does David answer the above question in verse 14-18?  What truth about God did he need to remember?
3. Is there a hardship in your life that you need to entrust to the Lord as David did?

Today’s passage: Psalm 9

Helpful thoughts:

• Right will prevail, and the reason why it will is because God is on the throne.
• David looks to the past, recounting God’s goodness in his life, and looks to the present in anticipation and expectation.
• The highest delight in David’s requests, the reason for them, is to recount all of God’s praises.  God is our greatest joy.

Questions to consider:

1. What has God done in your life that is deserving of praise?
2. Where is God working in your life right now?  What concerns do you have right now that you should take to Him in prayer?
3. How does the knowledge that God will never forsake His children give you comfort?  What does it mean?

Today’s passage: Psalm 8

Helpful thoughts:

• Creation declares the glory, the power, and the divine nature of God (Romans 1:20).
• God is bigger,better and more powerful than we could comprehend.  And yet He cares about us and gives us purpose, meaning and honor.
• Our purpose, meaning and honor come from our Creator!

Questions to consider:

1. How does remembering that God is big and we are small help us to remember where our purpose, meaning and honor come from?
2. When we look for purpose, meaning and honor in other places (Or from other people), how can that affect our fears, anxiety, pride, desires, actions, etc.?
3. How does the version of majesty that can be acquired by man compare to the majesty of God?  How many ways does earthly fame and wealth fall short of the majesty of God?